CV0-003 CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Questions and Answers

The firewall is the first thing that the administrator should check if an RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) session from a desktop to a server in the cloud is refused even though the VM is responding to ICMP echo requests. A firewall is a device or software that controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predefined rules or policies. A firewall may block RDP connections by default or require specific ports or rules to be opened or configured.

An API request limit is a restriction on the number of requests that can be made to a web service or application programming interface (API) within a certain time period. API request limits are often used by SaaS-based services to control the usage and traffic of their customers and prevent overloading or abuse of their resources. An API request limit can cause a failure to send all the emails if the marketing team exceeds the number of requests allowed by the SaaS-based service in a week. The service may reject or block any requests that go beyond the limit, resulting in fewer emails being sent than expected. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 13, section 2.5

SOA stands for Start of Authority, and it is a type of DNS record that contains information about a DNS zone, such as the name of the primary name server, the email address of the zone administrator, the serial number of the zone, and other parameters. The serial number is used to indicate when a zone has been updated, and it is incremented by the primary name server whenever a change is made to the zone data. The secondary name servers use the serial number to determine if they need to request a zone transfer from the primary name server to synchronize their data.

References: [CompTIA Cloud+ Study Guide], page 207.

DLP (Data Loss Prevention) is a service that prevents the unauthorized or accidental disclosure of confidential or sensitive data, such as company information, intellectual property, customer data, or personal information. DLP can monitor, detect, and block the data in motion (such as email, web, or network traffic), data at rest (such as files, databases, or cloud storage), or data in use (such as endpoints, applications, or clipboard). DLP can help a systems administrator to ensure confidential company information is not leaked to competitors by applying policies and rules that define what data is considered confidential, who can access it, how it can be used, and what actions to take if a violation occurs. For example, DLP can encrypt, quarantine, delete, or alert the administrator if confidential data is being copied, transferred, or shared outside the organization.

Ping is the command that will help the administrator understand the possible latency issues between different network service providers and link load balancing for bandwidth aggregation. Ping is a network utility that sends packets of data to a specific IP address or hostname and measures the time it takes for them to be sent back (round-trip time). Ping can help to test connectivity, availability, and latency of network devices or systems. Ping can help to understand latency issues by comparing the round-trip times between different network service providers and link load balancing devices, and identifying any delays or variations in response times.

P2V (Physical to Virtual) is a type of migration that converts a physical server into a virtual machine (VM). P2V migration can help to move a bare-metal server to the cloud by creating an image of its disk and configuration and uploading it to a cloud platform that supports VM creation from custom images.

Anti-affinity is a rule that specifies that certain virtual machines should not run on the same physical host. This can help to improve availability and performance by avoiding single points of failure and resource contention. For example, if the database nodes are running on the same host and the host fails, the entire database cluster will be unavailable. By using anti-affinity rules, the systems administrator can ensure the database nodes are distributed across different hosts in the virtualization environment. References: CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Study Guide, Chapter 2: Deploying a Cloud Environment, page 76.

Deploying two firewalls in a HA (High Availability) configuration is the best option to ensure all traffic passes through the firewall and meets the SLA (Service Level Agreement) of 99.999%. HA is a design principle that aims to minimize downtime and ensure continuous operation of a system or service. HA can be achieved by using redundancy, failover, load balancing, clustering, etc. Two firewalls in a HA configuration can provide redundancy and failover in case one firewall fails or becomes overloaded.

The licensing model of the SaaS provider is an important factor to consider before migrating to a SaaS-based solution for email infrastructure. The licensing model determines how much the organization will pay for the service, how many mailboxes they can create, what features they can access, and what SLAs they can expect. The organization should compare different SaaS providers’ licensing models and choose the one that best suits their needs and budget. Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, Domain 1.0 Configuration and Deployment, Objective 1.4 Given a scenario, execute a provided deployment plan.

The most useful tool to prevent private corporate information from being emailed to external users is data loss prevention (DLP). DLP is a type of security solution that monitors and controls the flow of data in and out of a system or network. It can detect and prevent unauthorized access, transmission, or leakage of sensitive data, such as personal information, financial records, or intellectual property. DLP can also enforce encryption, masking, or deletion of sensitive data to protect its confidentiality. Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, Domain 2.0 Security, Objective 2.5 Given a scenario, apply data security techniques in the cloud.

The best strategy to migrate the current on-premises workloads to the public cloud for the company that requires at least 80 instances running at all times and wants the workload to be highly available and cost-effective is to create /26 subnets in two regions and run 40 instances on each one. A /26 subnet can accommodate up to 62 hosts, which is enough for 40 instances. By creating subnets in two regions, the company can achieve high availability and redundancy in case one region fails due to a catastrophe. By running 40 instances on each subnet, the company can meet the minimum requirement of 80 instances and also save on costs by avoiding overprovisioning or underutilization of resources. Reference: What is VPN? How It Works, Types of VPN - Kaspersky

The best solution to resolve the issue of network slowness caused by high uplink bandwidth utilization on the core switch is to enable quality of service (QoS) to prioritize production traffic over other types of traffic. QoS is a mechanism that allows network administrators to classify and manage network traffic according to its importance, latency, bandwidth, and reliability requirements. By enabling QoS, the core switch can allocate more resources and guarantee better performance for production traffic, while limiting or dropping less critical traffic. Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, Domain 4.0 Troubleshooting, Objective 4.1 Given a scenario, troubleshoot connectivity issues related to cloud implementations.

Answer: A. Chain of custody

A chain of custody is a document that records the sequence of custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of physical or electronic evidence. A chain of custody is important to ensure the integrity and admissibility of evidence in legal cases. A cloud administrator who receives a physical disk that was analyzed by the incident response team should update the chain of custody to document when, how, and by whom the disk was handled, and what actions were performed on it12.

An incident taxonomy is a classification system that provides additional information about an incident, such as the nature, impact, intent, root cause, and data exposed. An incident taxonomy is useful for identifying trends and patterns, but it does not track the movement or manipulation of evidence3.

A risk register is a document that identifies, records, and assesses potential risks in a project or an organization. A risk register helps to prioritize and mitigate risks, and to develop contingency plans. A risk register is not directly related to the analysis of a physical disk by the incident response team4.

An incident playbook is a document that provides a series of prescriptive steps and guidance for responding and resolving incidents. An incident playbook helps to simplify and standardize the response process, and to reduce human error. An incident playbook does not record the details or outcomes of the response actions5.

Affinity is what must be set up to ensure two VMs remain together on the same host. Affinity is a feature that allows customers to specify preferences or requirements for placing VMs on certain hosts or clusters within a cloud environment. Affinity can help to improve performance, availability, compatibility, or security of VMs by ensuring they are located on optimal hosts or clusters. Affinity can also help to keep two VMs together on the same host by creating an affinity rule that binds them together.

The best solution to simplify management of a more complex DNS and DHCP environment for a company that has grown over the last couple of years is IPAM (IP address management). IPAM is a tool or service that allows centralized management and automation of DNS and DHCP functions, such as IP address allocation, reservation, release, or renewal, as well as domain name registration or resolution. IPAM can also provide monitoring, auditing, reporting, and security features for DNS and DHCP resources. Reference: [CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives], Domain 3.0 Maintenance, Objective 3.4 Given a scenario, implement automation and orchestration to optimize cloud operations.

An access control list (ACL) is a set of rules that defines which traffic is allowed or denied between different network segments or devices. An ACL can be used to filter traffic based on various criteria, such as source and destination addresses, ports, protocols, and applications. Configuring an ACL between the VLANs of the finance and marketing departments is the most suitable method to meet the requirements of allowing HTTPS/HTTP and disabling FTP and SMB traffic. An ACL can specify which ports and protocols are permitted or blocked between the VLANs, such as allowing port 80 (HTTP) and port 443 (HTTPS), and denying port 21 (FTP) and port 445 (SMB). References: [CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives], page 15, section 2.8

These are the protocols that should be used to share the disks between the nodes of a database cluster to access the same LUN (Logical Unit Number). A LUN is an identifier that represents a logical unit of storage, such as a disk, partition, volume, etc., that can be accessed by a host system or device. To share the disks between the nodes of a cluster, the following protocols can be used:

• iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface): This is a protocol that allows SCSI commands to be sent over IP networks. iSCSI can enable block-level storage access over a network, which means that the host system or device can access the storage as if it were a local disk.
• FC (Fibre Channel): This is a protocol that provides high-speed and low-latency data transfer over optical fiber cables. FC can also enable block-level storage access over a network, which means that the host system or device can access the storage as if it were a local disk.

A risk register is a document that records all the identified risks, their causes, impacts, probabilities, mitigation measures, and status for a project or an organization. A risk register helps to manage and monitor risks throughout their lifecycle and ensure they are addressed appropriately. A risk register would help the CISO to locate all the assets with identified deviations and mitigation measures.

The best way to resolve the issue where the autoscaling configuration is creating a new VM every five minutes after deploying a new CI/CD tool to automate new releases of the web application and configuring a script to be executed by the VMs during bootstrapping is to debug the script and redeploy it. Debugging the script means finding and fixing any errors or bugs in the code or logic of the script that may cause unexpected or undesired behavior, such as triggering the autoscaling condition or failing to complete the bootstrapping process. Redeploying the script means updating or replacing the existing script with the corrected or improved version of the script. Reference: [CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives], Domain 4.0 Troubleshooting, Objective 4.5 Given a scenario, troubleshoot automation/orchestration issues.

Object storage is a storage option that stores data as discrete units called objects, which are identified by a unique identifier and can have metadata attached to them. Object storage can help the cloud engineer migrate the content to improve availability by decoupling the data from the underlying infrastructure and components. Object storage can also provide high scalability, durability, and redundancy for the data, as well as support for multiple protocols and access methods. Object storage can be accessed through APIs, web interfaces, or gateways that can emulate file or block storage. Object storage is suitable for storing unstructured or static data, such as web content, images, videos, or documents. References: CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Certification Study Guide, Chapter 4, Objective 4.1: Given a scenario, implement cloud storage solutions.

A dual-stack infrastructure is a network that supports both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols. An active-active configuration is a high-availability cluster that distributes workloads across two or more nodes that are running the same service simultaneously. Replication between the two sites means that data is copied from one site to another to ensure consistency and redundancy. Data synchronization is the process of ensuring that data is identical across multiple locations. Therefore, data synchronization in real time means that data is replicated as soon as it changes on either site, without any delay or lag. References: Active-Active vs. Active-Passive High-Availability Clustering, Dual-stack IPv6 architectures for AWS and hybrid networks – Part 2, Understanding Dual Stacking of IPv4 and IPv6 Unicast Addresses

A default and common credentialed scan is what the administrator should use to verify the word “qwerty” has not been used as a password on any of the administrative web consoles in a network. A credentialed scan is a type of vulnerability scan that uses valid credentials or accounts to access and scan target systems or devices. A credentialed scan can provide more accurate and detailed results than a non-credentialed scan, as it can perform more actions and tests on target systems or devices. A default and common credentialed scan is a type of credentialed scan that uses default or common credentials or accounts, such as admin/admin, root/root, etc., to access and scan target systems or devices. A default and common credentialed scan can help to identify weak or insecure passwords on administrative web consoles, such as “qwerty”, and recommend stronger passwords.

The correct answer is B. Create a replica database, synchronize the data, and switch to the new instance.

This option is the best option to perform the migration because it can minimize the downtime and data loss during the migration process. A replica database is a copy of the source database that is kept in sync with the changes made to the original database. By creating a replica database in the cloud, the cloud engineer can transfer the data incrementally and asynchronously, without affecting the availability and performance of the source database. When the replica database is fully synchronized with the source database, the cloud engineer can switch to the new instance by updating the connection settings and redirecting the traffic. This can reduce the downtime to a few minutes or seconds, depending on the complexity of the switch.

Some of the tools and services that can help create a replica database and synchronize the data are AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) 1, Azure Database Migration Service 2, and Striim 3. These tools and services can support various source and target databases, such as Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, etc. They can also provide features such as schema conversion, data validation, monitoring, and security.

The other options are not the best options to perform the migration because they can cause more downtime and data loss than the replica database option.

• Copying the database to an external device and shipping the device to the CSP is a slow and risky option that can take days or weeks to complete. It also exposes the data to physical damage or theft during transit. Moreover, this option does not account for the changes made to the source database after copying it to the device, which can result in data inconsistency and loss.
• Utilizing a third-party tool to back up and restore the data to the new database is a faster option than shipping a device, but it still requires a significant amount of downtime and bandwidth. The source database has to be offline or in read-only mode during the backup process, which can take hours or days depending on the size of the data and the network speed. The restore process also requires downtime and bandwidth, as well as compatibility checks and configuration adjustments. Additionally, this option does not account for the changes made to the source database after backing it up, which can result in data inconsistency and loss.
• Using the database import/export method and copying the exported file is a similar option to using a third-party tool, but it relies on native database features rather than external tools. The import/export method involves exporting the data from the source database into a file format that can be imported into the target database. The file has to be copied over to the target database and then imported into it. This option also requires downtime and bandwidth during both export and import processes, as well as compatibility checks and configuration adjustments. Furthermore, this option does not account for the changes made to the source database after exporting it, which can result in data inconsistency and loss.

A volume-based licensing model is a licensing model that charges the customer based on the amount of data or resources that they consume or use. A volume-based licensing model is suitable for an laaS (Infrastructure as a Service) environment, as it allows the customer to pay only for what they need and scale up or down as their demand changes. A volume-based licensing model can provide financial benefits for the customer, such as lower upfront costs, greater flexibility, and more predictable billing.QUESTION NO: 277

A cloud administrator is evaluating a solution that will limit access to authorized individuals. The solution also needs to ensure the system that connects to the environment meets patching, antivirus, and configuration requirements. Which of the following technologies would BEST meet these requirements?

A.NAC

B.EDR

C.IDS

D.HIPS

Answer: A

NAC (Network Access Control) is a technology that will limit access to authorized individuals and ensure the system that connects to the environment meets patching, antivirus, and configuration requirements. NAC can enforce policies and rules that define who, what, when, where, and how a device or a user can access a network or a cloud environment. NAC can also inspect and evaluate the security posture and compliance status of a device or a user before granting or denying access. For example, NAC can check if the device has the latest patches, antivirus software, and configuration settings, and if not, it can quarantine, remediate, or reject the device. NAC can also monitor and audit the ongoing network activity and behavior of the devices and users, and take actions if any violations or anomalies are detected.

Deduplication is a technique that reduces the storage space by eliminating duplicate data blocks and replacing them with pointers to the original data. Deduplication can help free up the host filesystem by removing redundant data and increasing the storage efficiency. Deduplication can be performed at the source or the target, and it can be applied at the file or block level. References: [CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Certification Study Guide], Chapter 4, Objective 4.3: Given a scenario, troubleshoot common storage issues.

IPAM (IP Address Management) is what the administrator will most likely use to select an address for the new VM that is about to be deployed to a cloud environment. IPAM is a tool or service that allows customers to plan, track, and manage the IP addresses and DNS names of their cloud resources or systems. IPAM can help to select an address for the new VM by providing information such as available IP addresses, IP address ranges, subnets, domains, etc., as well as ensuring that the address is unique and valid.

Containers are the best approach to design a new machine-learning platform that needs to be portable between public and private clouds and should be kept as small as possible. Containers are isolated environments that can run applications and their dependencies without interfering with other processes or systems. Containers are lightweight, portable, and scalable, which makes them ideal for machine-learning applications. Containers can be moved easily between public and private clouds without requiring any changes or modifications. Containers can also reduce the size and complexity of applications by using only the necessary components and libraries.

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection is a type of security solution that detects and mitigates DDoS attacks that aim to overwhelm or disrupt a system or service by sending large volumes of traffic from multiple sources. DDoS protection can prevent such disruptive traffic from reaching the web servers by filtering out malicious or unwanted traffic and allowing only legitimate traffic to pass through. DDoS protection can also help maintain the availability and functionality of web services and applications during a DDoS attack. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 14, section 2.7

The correct answer is B and E. An agent-based scan and a credentialed scan can help verify if the vulnerability related to outdated web-server software is a true positive with the least effort and cost.

An agent-based scan is a type of vulnerability scan that uses software agents installed on the target systems to collect and report data on vulnerabilities. This method can provide more accurate and detailed results than a network-based scan, which relies on network traffic analysis and probes1. An agent-based scan can also reduce the network bandwidth and performance impact of scanning, as well as avoid triggering false alarms from intrusion detection systems2.

A credentialed scan is a type of vulnerability scan that uses valid login credentials to access the target systems and perform a more thorough and comprehensive assessment of their configuration, patch level, and vulnerabilities. A credentialed scan can identify vulnerabilities that are not visible or exploitable from the network level, such as missing updates, weak passwords, or misconfigured services3. A credentialed scan can also reduce the risk of false positives and false negatives, as well as avoid causing damage or disruption to the target systems3.

A network-based scan, a port scan, a red-team exercise, a blue-team exercise, and unknown environment penetration testing are not the best options to verify if the vulnerability is a true positive with the least effort and cost. A network-based scan and a port scan may not be able to detect the vulnerability if it is not exposed or exploitable from the network level. A red-team exercise, a blue-team exercise, and unknown environment penetration testing are more complex, time-consuming, and costly methods that involve simulating real-world attacks or defending against them. These methods are more suitable for testing the overall security posture and resilience of an organization, rather than verifying a specific vulnerability4.

The correct answer is B. Remove rules 1, 3, and 4.

The objective is to ensure the web servers in the public subnet allow only secure communications. This means that only HTTPS traffic should be allowed on port 443, which is the standard port for secure web connections. HTTPS traffic uses the TCP protocol and encrypts the data between the client and the server.

Rule 1 allows all TCP traffic on any port from any source. This is too permissive and exposes the web servers to potential attacks or unauthorized access. Rule 1 should be removed to restrict the TCP traffic to only port 443.

Rule 3 allows all UDP traffic on any port from any source. UDP is a connectionless protocol that does not guarantee reliable or secure delivery of data. UDP is typically used for streaming media, voice over IP (VoIP), or online gaming, but not for web servers. Rule 3 should be removed to prevent unnecessary or malicious UDP traffic.

Rule 4 allows all ICMP traffic from any source. ICMP is a protocol that is used for diagnostic or control purposes, such as ping or traceroute. ICMP traffic can be used by attackers to scan or probe the network for vulnerabilities or information. Rule 4 should be removed to block ICMP traffic and reduce the attack surface.

Rule 2 allows TCP traffic on port 443 from any source. This is the desired rule that allows secure web communications using HTTPS. Rule 2 should be kept.

Rule 5 denies all other traffic that does not match any of the previous rules. This is the default rule that provides a catch-all protection for the web servers. Rule 5 should be kept.

Therefore, the analyst should remove rules 1, 3, and 4 to accomplish the objective.

The correct answers are B and D.

B. Reduced monthly costs: One of the main advantages of public cloud is that it lowers the costs of IT infrastructure and maintenance for the customers. They do not need to purchase, install, or manage any hardware or software, and they only pay for the resources they use. This can result in significant savings compared to owning and operating a private cloud or an on-premise data center1234

D. Pay as you use: Another benefit of public cloud is that it offers a flexible and scalable pricing model based on the actual usage of the customers. They can adjust their resource consumption according to their changing needs and demands, and only pay for what they use. This eliminates the need for upfront capital investment or long-term contracts, and allows customers to optimize their spending and performance1234

Single sign-on (SSO) is a technology that allows a user to access multiple applications or services with a single login and authentication process. SSO can enhance security by reducing the number of passwords that a user has to remember and enter, and by enabling centralized management and enforcement of security policies .

SSO can help address the issue of multiple SaaS-based cloud applications requiring authentication upon access. By implementing SSO, an administrator can:

Simplify the user experience and increase productivity by eliminating the need to enter multiple usernames and passwords for different applications .

Improve the security and compliance of the applications by using a trusted identity provider (IdP) that can verify the user’s identity and credentials, and grant or deny access based on predefined rules .

Reduce the risk of password breaches, phishing, or identity theft by minimizing the exposure of passwords to third-party applications or malicious actors .

The driver is the most likely cause of the drop in network performance after a hardware upgrade on a private cloud system. A driver is a software component that enables communication and interaction between hardware devices and operating systems or applications. A driver may need to be updated or reinstalled after a hardware upgrade to ensure compatibility and functionality. If the driver is outdated, missing, or corrupted, it may affect the network performance of the system.

A production snapshot is a point-in-time copy of the state and data of a production server or instance. It can be used to restore the server or instance to the exact state it was in when the snapshot was taken, in case of a failure, error, or corruption. A production snapshot can help to ensure a quick rollback in case an issue arises during an application upgrade, as it can revert the changes made by the upgrade and restore the previous version of the application. A production snapshot can also preserve the configuration and settings of the server or instance, as well as the application data and dependencies. A production snapshot is different from a backup, which is a copy of the data only, and may not include the state or configuration of the server or instance. References: CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Study Guide, Chapter 2: Deploying a Cloud Environment, page 75-76; Snapshots vs Backups: Key Differences and Similarities.

Link aggregation is a technique that combines multiple physical links into a logical link that provides higher bandwidth and redundancy. Link aggregation can help address the issue of a physical switchport that is connected to a virtualization host using all available bandwidth by increasing the capacity and availability of the connection. Link aggregation can also balance the traffic load across the links and improve the fault tolerance of the network. Link aggregation can be implemented using protocols such as LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) or static configuration. References: CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Certification Study Guide, Chapter 3, Objective 3.2: Given a scenario, troubleshoot network connectivity issues.

B. Deduplication and D. Compression are the two options that the architect can use to provide more space without adding more capacity. Deduplication is the process of eliminating duplicate copies of data that are stored in different locations, thus reducing the storage consumption and costs1. Compression is the process of reducing the size of data by applying algorithms that remove redundant or unnecessary information, thus saving storage space and bandwidth2. Both deduplication and compression can improve the efficiency and performance of cloud storage solutions12.

LTS stands for Long Term Support, and it is a term that refers to a version of an operating system that receives updates and security patches for a longer period of time than other versions. LTS versions are usually more stable and reliable than other versions, and they are suitable for users who want to avoid frequent changes or compatibility issues. By choosing LTS versions for the VMs that are hosted in a cloud environment, the systems administrator can ensure that the VMs receive updates for as long as possible, and benefit from the enhanced security and performance of the operating system. LTS versions are typically released every few years, and they are supported for several years after their release. For example, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is supported until April 2025, while Ubuntu 21.04 is supported until January 2022. References: CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Certification Study Guide, Chapter 5, Objective 5.2: Given a scenario, troubleshoot common cloud resource and service issues.

A Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides customers a complete cloud platform—hardware, software, and infrastructure—for developing, running, and managing applications without the cost, complexity, and inflexibility that often comes with building and maintaining that platform on-premises1.

To develop a new website using a PaaS, the development team needs to deploy new virtual machines (VMs) on the cloud platform. VMs are software emulations of physical computers that can run different operating systems and applications. By deploying new VMs, the development team can create a scalable and flexible environment for their website project, without having to invest in or manage physical hardware2.

To enable remote access to the workstations using their corporate email addresses, the development team needs to integrate identity services on the cloud platform. Identity services are services that provide authentication, authorization, and identity management for users and devices accessing cloud resources. By integrating identity services, the development team can use their corporate email addresses as single sign-on (SSO) credentials to access their workstations from any device and location, while ensuring security and compliance3.

The other options are not the best solutions for these requirements:

• Configuring email account replication is not necessary for remote access to the workstations. Email account replication is a process of synchronizing email accounts across different servers or locations. It can provide backup and redundancy for email services, but it does not provide authentication or identity management for remote access4.
• Implementing a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution is not a PaaS solution. VDI is a technology that allows users to access virtual desktops hosted on a centralized server. VDI can provide remote access to desktop environments, but it requires additional hardware, software, and management costs that are not included in a PaaS model5.
• Migrating local VHD workstations is not a PaaS solution. VHD stands for Virtual Hard Disk, which is a file format that represents a virtual hard disk drive. Migrating local VHD workstations means moving the virtual hard disk files from local storage to cloud storage. This can provide backup and portability for the workstations, but it does not provide a complete cloud platform for developing and running applications6.
• Creating a new directory service is not necessary for remote access to the workstations. A directory service is a service that stores and organizes information about users, devices, and resources on a network. Creating a new directory service means setting up a new database and schema for storing this information. This can provide identity management and access control for the network, but it does not provide authentication or SSO for remote access.

 To meet the requirements of the development team, the cloud administrator should integrate identity services and implement a VDI solution. Identity services are used to authenticate and authorize users and devices to access cloud resources. By integrating identity services, the cloud administrator can enable the development team to use their corporate email addresses to log in to the PaaS workstations. A VDI solution is a virtualization technology that allows users to access remote desktops hosted on a cloud platform. By implementing a VDI solution, the cloud administrator can provide the development team with workstations that have the necessary tools and configurations for web development. References: [CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Certification Study Guide], Chapter 2, Objective 2.1: Given a scenario, deploy cloud services and solutions.

A network-based scan is a type of vulnerability assessment that tests the security of a system or a network from an external user’s perspective, without requiring any software or credentials on the target. A network-based scan can identify vulnerabilities such as open ports, misconfigured firewalls, outdated software, or exposed services .

A bucket Comprehensive Explanation: A bucket is a cloud storage solution that allows users to store and access objects, such as files, images, videos, etc. A bucket is typically associated with object storage services, such as Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Microsoft Azure Blob Storage123. A bucket has the following characteristics that match the requirements of the application:

• The owner of the objects is the object writer. This means that the user who uploads or writes an object to the bucket becomes the owner of that object and can control its access permissions456.
• The storage system enforces TLS encryption. This means that the data in transit between the client and the bucket is encrypted using the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, which provides security and privacy for the communication .

A CIFS endpoint, a SAN, and an NFS mount are not cloud storage solutions, but rather network protocols or architectures that enable access to storage devices

To test the new web application in the public cloud, the systems administrator should create a replica database, synchronize the data, and switch to the new instance, and create a SSH tunnel. Creating a replica database can help minimize the downtime and ensure data consistency during the migration. Synchronizing the data can help keep the replica database up to date with the original database. Switching to the new instance can help activate the new web application in the public cloud. Creating a SSH tunnel can help bypass the network firewall and access the web application using TCP port 22. SSH is a secure protocol that can create encrypted tunnels between the local and remote hosts. By creating a SSH tunnel, the systems administrator can forward the web application traffic through the tunnel and test it using a web browser. References: [CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Certification Study Guide], Chapter 7, Objective 7.1: Given a scenario, migrate applications and data to the cloud.

Per user is a common SaaS-based licensing model that charges customers based on the number of users who access the software. This model is suitable for applications that have a clear and consistent user base, such as CRM, ERP, or collaboration tools. Per user licensing allows customers to scale up or down their usage as their needs change, and only pay for what they use. Per user licensing also simplifies the billing and management of the software, as customers do not need to worry about the underlying infrastructure, hardware, or software updates. References: CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Study Guide, Chapter 1: Cloud Concepts and Models, page 19; SaaS Licensing.

The best option to implement a secure connection between two different locations is IPSec (Internet Protocol Security). IPSec is a protocol suite that provides security for IP-based communications over networks. IPSec can encrypt and authenticate the data packets between two endpoints, such as routers, firewalls, or VPN gateways. IPSec can also provide integrity, confidentiality, and replay protection for the data. Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, Domain 2.0 Security, Objective 2.2 Given a scenario, implement appropriate network security controls for a cloud environment.

The most likely reason why the systems administrator gets an error while executing a vertical-scaling test of the vCPU on the VMs is that there is a licensing issue with the virtualization software or the operating system. Some virtualization software or operating systems have limitations on how many vCPUs can be assigned to each VM or each host, depending on the license type or edition. The systems administrator should check the license agreement and requirements and ensure that they are compliant with them. Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, Domain 4.0 Troubleshooting, Objective 4.3 Given a scenario, troubleshoot capacity issues within a cloud environment.

A site-to-site VPN is a type of VPN configuration that establishes a secure connection between two networks, such as a data center and a cloud environment. A site-to-site VPN allows all the devices in one network to communicate with all the devices in the other network, without requiring individual VPN clients or connections. A site-to-site VPN is suitable for a company that is migrating workloads from on premises to the cloud and would like to establish a connection between the entire data center and the cloud environment, as it can provide seamless and secure access to both networks.

According to the Virtual Machine Affinity and Anti-Affinity - VMware Docs1, affinity and anti-affinity rules allow you to spread a group of virtual machines across different ESXi hosts or keep a group of virtual machines on a particular ESXi host. An affinity rule places a group of virtual machines on a specific host so that you can easily audit the usage of those virtual machines.

Containers are “a standard unit of software that packages up code and all its dependencies so the application runs quickly and reliably from one computing environment to another” 2. Containers can run on any virtual machine or physical server, and they can be moved between different hosts without affecting the application functionality.

A firewall is “a device or software that monitors and controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predefined rules” 3. A firewall can help protect a cloud environment from unauthorized access and malicious attacks, but it does not affect the placement of virtual machines on hosts.

Load balancers are “devices or software that distribute network or application traffic across a number of servers” . Load balancers can help improve the performance and availability of a cloud environment by distributing the workload among multiple servers, but they do not affect the placement of virtual machines on hosts.

Based on this information, I think the best answer to your question is C. Affinity rules. Affinity rules can help the pharmaceutical company ensure compliance by placing the application on its own virtual machine and keeping it on the same host. This way, the company can easily audit the usage of the application and avoid any changes in the hardware configuration.

 The best storage technology to configure for maximum performance and redundancy is RAID 10 (Redundant Array of Independent Disks 10). RAID 10 is a combination of RAID 1 (mirroring) and RAID 0 (striping) that provides both fault tolerance and improved performance. RAID 10 divides and replicates the data across multiple disks in pairs, creating mirrored sets, and then stripes the data across those sets, creating a striped set. RAID 10 can withstand multiple disk failures as long as they are not in the same mirrored set, and can also increase the read and write speed by parallelizing the disk operations. Reference: [CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives], Domain 1.0 Configuration and Deployment, Objective 1.2 Given a scenario involving requirements for deploying an application in the cloud, select an appropriate solution design.

The most important consideration when attempting to calculate the licensing costs for a piece of software that applies licensing fees on a socket-based model is the number of CPUs in the server. A socket-based model is a type of licensing model that charges based on the number of physical CPU sockets or slots on the server, regardless of how many cores or threads each CPU has. The systems administrator should count how many CPUs are installed on each server and multiply that by the licensing fee per socket to determine the total licensing cost for the software. Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, Domain 3.0 Maintenance, Objective 3.3 Given a scenario, analyze system performance using standard tools.

The recovery point objective (RPO) is a metric that defines the maximum amount of data that can be lost or acceptable data loss in the event of a disaster or disruption. The RPO determines how frequently the backups should be performed and how far back in time the recovery should go. In this case, the RPO needs to be updated in the DR plan, as seven hours’ worth of data loss is deemed unacceptable. The RPO should be reduced to a lower value, such as one hour or less, to minimize the data loss and meet the business requirements. Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, Domain 3.0 Maintenance, Objective 3.2 Given a scenario, implement backup, restore, disaster recovery and business continuity measures.

Scalability is the ability of a system to handle increasing or decreasing demand by adding or removing resources accordingly. According to the web search results, scalability is one of the main benefits of using containers in a cloud environment, as containers are lightweight, portable, and independent units of software that can run on any compatible host . A containerized cluster is a group of hosts that run multiple containers and share resources and services. A containerized cluster can scale up or down easily by adding or removing hosts or containers as needed, without affecting the functionality or performance of the applications .

The answer is B. A VPN tunnel. A VPN tunnel is a secure and encrypted connection between two networks over a public network, such as the Internet. A VPN tunnel can help protect data in transit by encrypting it before it leaves the company’s network and decrypting it when it reaches the public cloud service provider. A VPN tunnel can also authenticate the endpoints and verify the integrity of the data.

Some possible sources of information about VPN tunnels are:

• What is a VPN Tunnel? | Fortinet: This page explains what a VPN tunnel is, how it works, and what benefits it provides.
• VPN Gateway: Create a Site-to-Site connection using a VPN gateway | Microsoft Docs: This page shows how to create a site-to-site connection using a VPN gateway in Azure.
• [Cloud VPN overview | Google Cloud]: This page provides an overview of Cloud VPN, a service that creates secure and reliable VPN tunnels to Google Cloud.

 Incremental backups only back up the files that have changed since the last backup, which minimizes the backup time and the performance impact on the application. Differential backups back up all the files that have changed since the last full backup, which can take longer and consume more storage space. Database dump and full backups are not suitable for weekday requirements, as they back up the entire database or filesystem, which can be time-consuming and resource-intensive.

References: CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Exam Objectives, Objective 3.3: Given a scenario, implement backup, restore, disaster recovery and business continuity solutions

A staging environment is a type of development environment that is used to test and demonstrate the final product before deploying it to the production environment. A staging environment can help the web consultancy group avoid the issues of delivering a different or faulty product to the customers, as it can ensure that the product is fully functional, compatible, and secure. A staging environment can also help the group showcase the product to the customers in a realistic and controlled way, as it can mimic the production environment and avoid any interference from other development activities. A staging environment can be leveraged by using cloud services that allow for easy provisioning, scaling, and deployment of web applications

Volume-based licensing is a model where the cost of the software is based on the number of licenses purchased1. This model is commonly used for software that is installed on a specific number of devices, such as antivirus software or office productivity suites1. Therefore, the number of machines is the most important factor when considering licensing costs in this model.

References: CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Exam Objectives, Objective 1.2: Given a scenario, compare and contrast various cloud service models ; Cloud+ Exam CV0-003: CompTIA Cloud+ Licensing Models1

RAID 6 is a type of RAID level that uses block-level striping with two parity blocks distributed across all member disks. RAID 6 can provide redundancy and fault tolerance, as it can survive the failure of up to two disks without losing any data. RAID 6 can also support large data sets and high-capacity disks, as it can offer more usable space and better performance than other RAID levels with similar features, such as RAID 5 or RAID 10. RAID 6 is the best RAID level for a systems administrator to use when deploying a new storage array for backups that provides 1PB of raw disk space and uses 14TB nearline SAS drives and must tolerate at least two failed drives in a single RAID set. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 9, section 1.4

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, which is a technology that combines multiple physical disks into a logical unit that provides improved performance, reliability, and storage capacity. RAID levels are different ways of organizing and distributing data across the disks in a RAID array. Each RAID level has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the requirements and trade-offs of the system.

RAID 6 is a RAID level that uses block-level striping with double parity. This means that data is divided into blocks and distributed across all the disks in the array, and two sets of parity information are calculated and stored on different disks. Parity is a method of error detection and correction that can reconstruct the data in case of disk failure. RAID 6 can withstand the failure of up to two disks without losing any data, which makes it suitable for a private cloud that requires high fault tolerance. RAID 6 also maximizes the storage capacity of its drives, as it only uses two disks for parity and the rest for data. The storage capacity of a RAID 6 array is equal to (n-2) x S, where n is the number of disks and S is the size of the smallest disk.

RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 are other RAID levels, but they do not meet the requirements of the private cloud. RAID 0 uses striping without parity, which improves performance but does not provide any redundancy or fault tolerance. RAID 0 cannot withstand any disk failure, as it would result in data loss. RAID 1 uses mirroring, which copies the same data to two or more disks. RAID 1 provides high reliability and fast read performance, but it wastes half of the storage capacity for redundancy. RAID 1 can only withstand the failure of one disk in each mirrored pair. RAID 5 uses striping with single parity, which distributes data and parity across all the disks in the array. RAID 5 provides a balance of performance, reliability, and storage capacity, but it can only withstand the failure of one disk. RAID 10 is a combination of RAID 1 and RAID 0, which creates a striped array of mirrored pairs. RAID 10 provides high performance and reliability, but it also wastes half of the storage capacity for redundancy. RAID 10 can withstand the failure of one disk in each mirrored pair, but not more than that.

For more information on RAID levels, you can refer to the following sources:

• CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Certification Study Guide, Chapter 4, Storage Technologies, page 791
• Cloud+ (Plus) Certification | CompTIA IT Certifications2

The best way to prevent two virtual database servers from being on the same host is to configure anti-affinity. Anti-affinity is a feature that allows specifying which VMs or applications should not run on the same host or cluster. This can improve availability, performance, and security by avoiding resource contention, single point of failure, or interference between VMs or applications. The systems administrator should create an anti-affinity rule or policy for the two virtual database servers to ensure they are placed on different hosts. Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, Domain 1.0 Configuration and Deployment, Objective 1.2 Given a scenario involving requirements for deploying an application in the cloud, select an appropriate solution design.

This error indicates that the SSH client has detected a change in the server’s RSA key, which is used to authenticate the server and establish a secure connection. The SSH client stores the fingerprints of the servers it has previously connected to in a file called known_hosts, which is usually located in the ~/.ssh directory. When the SSH client tries to connect to a server, it compares the fingerprint of the server’s RSA key with the one stored in the known_hosts file. If they match, the connection proceeds. If they do not match, the SSH client warns the user of a possible man-in-the-middle attack or a host key change, and aborts the connection.

The most likely cause of this error is that the deployment script has recreated the server with a new RSA key, which does not match the one stored in the known_hosts file. This can happen when a server is reinstalled, cloned, or migrated. To resolve this error, the administrator needs to remove or update the old fingerprint from the known_hosts file, and accept the new fingerprint when connecting to the server again. Alternatively, the administrator can use a tool or service that can synchronize or manage the RSA keys across multiple servers, such as AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) 1, Azure Key Vault 2, or HashiCorp Vault 3.

Telnet and FTP are recommended services to be disabled when deploying a server in a cloud platform, as they are insecure protocols that transmit data in plain text and expose credentials and sensitive information to potential attackers12. Remote log-in, DNS, DHCP, and LDAP are not necessarily recommended to be disabled, as they may provide useful functionality for the server and the cloud environment. However, they should be configured properly and secured with encryption, authentication, and authorization mechanisms34.

References: CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Exam Objectives, Objective 4.2: Given a scenario, apply security configurations and compliance controls ; CompTIA Quick Start Guide to Tackling Cloud Security Concerns3

An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is a software or hardware system that monitors network traffic for malicious activity and alerts the administrator of any potential threats. An Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) is a software or hardware system that not only detects but also blocks or mitigates the malicious activity. Both IDS and IPS are essential for securing a web application in a cloud environment1.

A web proxy server is a server that acts as an intermediary between the client and the web server. It can provide caching, filtering, and authentication services, but it does not offer IDS/IPS functionality. Therefore, option A is incorrect.

Load balancing using SSI (Server Side Includes) is a technique that distributes the workload among multiple web servers by inserting dynamic content into web pages. It can improve the performance and availability of a web application, but it does not provide IDS/IPS protection. Therefore, option B is incorrect.

Implementing IDS/IPS agents on each instance running in that virtual private network is a valid solution for providing IPS protection for traffic coming from the internet. The agents can monitor and inspect the network traffic on each instance and block or report any suspicious activity to a central management console. This can prevent attacks from reaching the web application or spreading to other instances in the same network. Therefore, option C is correct.

Implementing dynamic routing is a technique that allows routers to select the best path for forwarding packets based on network conditions. It can enhance the reliability and efficiency of a network, but it does not offer IDS/IPS functionality. Therefore, option D is incorrect.

Containers are packages of software that contain all of the necessary elements to run in any environment. Containers virtualize the operating system and run anywhere, from a private data center to the public cloud or even on a developer’s personal laptop. Containers provide an isolated environment for running applications, sharing the host OS kernel but isolating processes, file systems, and network resources. Containers package applications and their dependencies together, ensuring they run consistently across different environments, from development to production. Containers are lightweight, resource-efficient, fast, and immutable, making them ideal for portability and scalability. By using containers, a cloud administrator can easily move resources from one environment to another without changing the code or configuration of the applications. References: CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-003 Study Guide, Chapter 2: Deploying a Cloud Environment, page 75-76; What are containers?; Portability in the Cloud: Cloud Native and Containers.

The answer is B. Running the command with elevated privileges. According to the web search results, the error message “End of file while reading data: sh: 1: nc: not found: Input/output error” indicates that the remote host does not have the nc (netcat) command installed or available in the PATH12. The nc command is used by libvirt to establish a connection between the client and the server. To fix this error, the administrator should install nc on the remote host or ensure that it is in the PATH. However, to do this, the administrator needs to have elevated privileges, such as sudo or root, on the remote host. Therefore, the administrator should try running the command with elevated privileges, such as sudo virsh remotehost or su -c ‘virsh remotehost’. This will allow the administrator to install nc or modify the PATH on the remote host and then connect to it using libvirt.

SR-IOV stands for Single Root I/O Virtualization, which is a technology that allows a physical network adapter to be partitioned into multiple virtual functions (VFs) that can be directly assigned to virtual machines (VMs). This way, the network traffic bypasses the software layer of the hypervisor and the virtual switch, and goes directly from the VM to the physical adapter. This reduces the CPU overhead, the network latency, and the packet loss, and improves the network throughput and scalability. SR-IOV can achieve near-native performance for network-intensive applications, such as an integration application that communicates between different application and database servers. By enabling SR-IOV capability on the physical server and the virtual server, the P2V migration can maintain the same level of network throughput and latency as the original physical machine. References: High performance network virtualization with SR-IOV; Supercharge Your Network Throughput via Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV); Overview of Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV).

Infrastructure as code (IaC) is a method of provisioning and managing cloud resources using code or scripts, rather than manual processes or GUI tools. This allows for automation, consistency, scalability, and version control of the infrastructure layer. This would be the best option to deploy a solution to automate new application releases that come from the development team without modifying any configurations in the application code. Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, Domain 3.0 Maintenance, Objective 3.4 Given a scenario, implement automation and orchestration to optimize cloud operations.

A canary deployment is a software deployment technique where a new feature or version is released to a small subset of users in production prior to releasing it to a larger subset or all the users. It is also sometimes termed a phased rollout or incremental release1. A canary deployment allows the developers to test the new service in a real environment and get feedback from the users before making it available to everyone. It also reduces the risk of failures and enables easy rollbacks if something goes wrong. A canary deployment is different from a blue-green deployment, where two identical environments are used to switch between the old and new versions of the service. A big bang deployment is where the new service is released to all the users at once, without any testing or gradual rollout. A rolling deployment is where the new service is installed in batches or stages, replacing the old service gradually until all the users are on the new version.

Deduplication is a technique that reduces the amount of storage space required by eliminating duplicate or redundant data blocks. Deduplication can be performed at the file level, where entire files are compared and removed if they are identical, or at the block level, where chunks of data within a file are compared and removed if they are identical. Deduplication can be especially effective for VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) environments, where multiple virtual desktops share the same base image and have a high degree of similarity. By deduplicating the data blocks across the virtual desktops, the storage space required for the VDI volume can be significantly reduced, which can mitigate the situation of the storage being 80% full.

RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is what would help the administrator schedule the frequency of the backup job for a critical business application that is running in a private cloud. RPO is a metric that measures how much data can be lost or how far back in time a recovery point can be without causing significant impact or damage. RPO can help to schedule the frequency of the backup job by determining how often backups should be performed to minimize data loss in case of a disruption or disaster.

The most likely causes of the issue are A. Disk I/O limits and C. CPU oversubscription. Disk I/O limits are the maximum amount of input/output operations per second (IOPS) that a disk can handle. CPU oversubscription is the ratio of virtual CPUs to physical CPUs in a host. Both of these factors can affect the performance of a VDI environment, especially during peak hours when many users log in and launch applications.

Disk I/O limits can cause slow boot times, application lags, and cursor freezes for VDI users12. To avoid this issue, it is recommended to use flash storage or SSDs for VDI workloads, as they have much higher IOPS than traditional hard disk drives31. It is also important to monitor the disk performance and adjust the disk size and configuration as needed1.

CPU oversubscription can also cause performance degradation for VDI users, as it can lead to CPU contention and increased latency42. To avoid this issue, it is recommended to limit the CPU oversubscription ratio to a reasonable level, such as 4:1 or lower42. It is also important to monitor the CPU utilization and balance the load across hosts as needed4.

The other options are less likely to cause the issue. Affinity rules are used to specify which virtual machines should run on which hosts or which virtual machines should not run on the same host. They are not related to the performance of VDI workloads. RAM usage can affect the performance of VDI workloads, but it is usually not a major factor during peak hours, as most users do not consume a lot of memory when they log in or launch applications. Insufficient GPU resources can affect the performance of VDI workloads that require high graphics processing, such as video streaming or 3D rendering, but they are not relevant for most VDI users. License issues can affect the availability of VDI workloads, but they are not related to the performance of VDI workloads.

The best way to restrict access to a set of sensitive files to a specific group of users is to change the file permissions and ownership of the files. File permissions and ownership are attributes that determine who can read, write, execute, or modify the files. By changing the file permissions and ownership, the systems administrator can grant or deny access to the files based on the user identity or group membership. Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, Domain 2.0 Security, Objective 2.3 Given a scenario, implement appropriate access control measures for a cloud environment.

The first thing that the systems administrator must do before planning a penetration test for company resources that are hosted in a public cloud is to consult the cloud services provider’s policies and guidelines. Penetration testing is a type of security assessment that involves simulating an attack on a system or network to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses. However, not all cloud services providers allow penetration testing on their platforms, or they may have specific rules and requirements for conducting such tests. The systems administrator should check the cloud services provider’s policies and guidelines and obtain their permission and approval before performing any penetration testing. Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, Domain 2.0 Security, Objective 2.4 Given a scenario, implement security automation and orchestration in a cloud environment.

The best technology to provide speed acceleration and a secure connection for a public-facing API that is hosted on a cloud provider is SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). SSL is a protocol that encrypts and authenticates the data between a client and a server over an HTTP connection. It also compresses the data to reduce its size and improve its transmission speed. SSL can enhance the security and performance of an API by preventing unauthorized access, tampering, or interception of the data. Reference: [CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives], Domain 2.0 Security, Objective 2.2 Given a scenario, implement appropriate network security controls for a cloud environment.

A network security group is a service that allows the cloud administrator to filter and control the network traffic between different resources in a cloud environment. A network security group contains security rules that specify the source, destination, protocol, port, and direction of the traffic, and whether to allow or deny it. A network security group can be associated with a subnet or a network interface in a virtual machine, and it can apply to inbound or outbound traffic. A network security group would be the best way to achieve the objective of controlling the connections between a group of web servers and database servers as part of the financial application security review, as it can provide granular and flexible control over the network access and security of the servers.

The most likely cause of the issue is A. The target system’s API functionality has been deprecated. API deprecation is the process of gracefully discontinuing an API. The process starts by first informing the customers that the API is no longer actively supported even though it will be operational and suggesting them to migrate to an alternate or latest version of the API1. However, sometimes the API functionality may change or be removed without proper notice or documentation, which can break the existing applications that rely on the API. According to the web search results, API deprecation is a common challenge for configuration management tools. Therefore, if the target system’s API functionality has been deprecated after the updates, the configuration management tool may no longer work as expected.

laaS (Infrastructure as a Service) is a public cloud service model that provides access to fundamental compute, network, and storage resources on demand over the public Internet or through dedicated connections. Customers can provision and configure these resources according to their needs, and they have full administrative control at the OS level. This means that customers can install, update, and manage any software or applications they want on the cloud servers, as well as apply their own security and compliance policies. laaS is suitable for companies that require high flexibility and customization of their cloud infrastructure, as well as scalability and cost-efficiency.

The best way to gracefully stop any new transactions from processing before applying updates to an application is to enable maintenance mode from the application dashboard. Maintenance mode is a feature that allows temporarily disabling the access or functionality of an application or service while performing maintenance tasks, such as updates, patches, or backups. It also displays a message or notification to the users or clients informing them about the maintenance and the expected downtime. This method will prevent any new transactions from being initiated or interrupted while the updates are being applied. Reference: [CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives], Domain 3.0 Maintenance, Objective 3.1 Given a scenario, apply appropriate changes to meet performance, security and user requirements.

The first step in incident response is to contain the incident activities and attackers, which means preventing them from spreading to other systems or causing more damage. In this case, the security analyst should isolate the instance from the network into quarantine, which means cutting off its communication with other hosts and services. This will stop the cryptocurrency mining activity and prevent the attacker from accessing the instance remotely. Isolating the instance also preserves the evidence for further analysis and investigation.

A DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack is a type of network-based flooding attack that aims to overwhelm a target server or network with a large volume of traffic from multiple sources, making it unavailable or slow for legitimate users. According to the web search results, DDoS protection is a service or a solution that can detect and mitigate DDoS attacks by filtering out malicious traffic and allowing only legitimate traffic to pass through .

A NIPS (network intrusion prevention system) is a device or a software that can monitor, detect, and block malicious activity on a network, such as unauthorized access, malware, or policy violations. However, a NIPS may not be effective against DDoS attacks, as it can also be overwhelmed by the flood of traffic and fail to distinguish between legitimate and malicious requests.

A network overlay using GENEVE (Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation) is a protocol that can create virtual networks on top of physical networks, allowing different cloud environments to communicate with each other. However, a network overlay using GENEVE does not provide any protection against DDoS attacks, as it does not filter or block any traffic.

A DoH (DNS over HTTPS) is a protocol that can encrypt and secure DNS queries and responses over HTTPS, preventing eavesdropping or tampering by third parties. However, a DoH does not prevent DDoS attacks, as it does not affect the amount or the source of the traffic.

The wrong template selection is the most likely cause of the issue of newly provisioned Linux VMs running an earlier version of OS than they should be in a private IaaS environment. A template is a preconfigured image or blueprint of a VM that contains an OS, applications, settings, etc., that can be used to create new VMs quickly and consistently. A template may have different versions or updates depending on when it was created or modified. If a template is selected incorrectly or not updated properly, it may result in creating VMs with an older or different version of OS than expected.

Creating a VPN tunnel is the first action that the engineer should perform to prepare for server migrations and establish connectivity between clouds. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) tunnel is a secure and encrypted connection that allows data to be transferred between two networks or locations over the public internet. Creating a VPN tunnel can enable communication and interoperability between different cloud environments, as well as protect data from interception or modification during migration.

Creating a VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) and peering the networks is the best option to accommodate additional servers in a public cloud environment that has run out of IP addresses. A VPC is a logically isolated section of a cloud provider’s network that allows customers to launch and configure their own virtual network resources. Peering is a process of connecting two VPCs together so that they can communicate with each other as if they were in the same network.

These are the steps that should be done to troubleshoot the issue of slow connection times for users of an enterprise application that is configured to use SSO (Single Sign-On). SSO is a feature that allows users to access multiple applications or services with one login credential, without having to authenticate separately for each application or service. SSO can improve user experience and security, but it may also introduce performance issues if not configured properly. To troubleshoot the issue, the administrator should perform a packet capture during authentication to analyze the network traffic and identify any delays or errors in the SSO process. The administrator should also validate the load-balancing configuration to ensure that the SSO requests are distributed evenly and efficiently among the available servers or instances. The administrator should also analyze the network throughput of the load balancer to check if there is any congestion or bottleneck that may affect the SSO performance.

Modifying the configuration settings of the CMS (Content Management System) application to connect to the database in the current environment is what the cloud administrator should do to resolve the issue of web page displaying an error message stating the application is unavailable after deploying CMS application changes to the staging environment. A CMS is a software or platform that allows users to create, manage, and publish web content. A CMS may use a database to store and retrieve web content and information. A staging environment is a testing or pre-production environment that simulates the production environment and allows users to verify and validate changes or updates before deploying them to production. Modifying the configuration settings of the CMS application can help to resolve the issue by ensuring that the CMS application can access and communicate with the database in the current environment, rather than using the previous or default settings that may point to a different or non-existent database.

Documenting the solution and placing it in a shared knowledge base is what the administrator should do next after troubleshooting performance issues with a VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) environment, determining that the issue is GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) related, increasing the frame buffer on the virtual machines, and testing that confirms that the issue is solved and everything is now working correctly. Documenting the solution is a process of recording and describing what was done to fix or resolve an issue, such as actions, steps, methods, etc., as well as why and how it worked. Placing it in a shared knowledge base is a process of storing and organizing documented solutions in a central location or repository that can be accessed and used by others. Documenting the solution and placing it in a shared knowledge base can provide benefits such as:

• Learning: Documenting the solution and placing it in a shared knowledge base can help to learn from past experiences and improve skills and knowledge.
• Sharing: Documenting the solution and placing it in a shared knowledge base can help to share information and insights with others who may face similar issues or situations.
• Reusing: Documenting the solution and placing it in a shared knowledge base can help to reuse existing solutions for future issues or situations.

An expired password is the most likely cause of the failure of a custom VM deployment script that no longer joins the LDAP domain. LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is a protocol that allows access and management of directory services, such as user accounts, groups, permissions, etc., over a network. LDAP can be used to authenticate and authorize users or devices to access network resources or systems. An expired password is a password that has reached its validity period and needs to be changed or renewed. An expired password can prevent users or devices from joining or accessing an LDAP domain, as it may indicate that the account is inactive, compromised, or outdated.

Feature compatibility is an important consideration for a successful cloud-to-cloud migration, as different cloud providers may have different features, services, APIs, and standards. If the application relies on specific features that are not available or compatible with the target cloud provider, the migration may fail or incur additional costs and complexity. The administrator should assess and compare the features of both cloud providers and ensure they meet the application requirements.

New web nodes are not operational is the most likely cause of the issue of website being intermittently unavailable after adding servers to a round-robin, load-balanced pool. A round-robin, load-balanced pool is a method of distributing network traffic evenly and sequentially among multiple servers or nodes that provide the same service or function. A round-robin, load-balanced pool can help to improve performance, availability, and scalability of network applications or services by ensuring that no server or node is overloaded or underutilized. New web nodes are not operational if they are not configured properly or functioning correctly to provide web service or function. New web nodes are not operational can cause website being intermittently unavailable by disrupting the round-robin, load-balanced pool and creating inconsistency or unreliability in web service or function.

Renewing the expired certificate is what would most likely resolve the issue of users receiving a message indicating the connection is not secure when landing on a website that is hosted on a cloud platform and accessed through https://www.comptiasite.com. A certificate is a digital document that contains information such as identity, public key, expiration date, etc., that can be used to prove one’s identity and establish secure communication over a network. A certificate can expire when it reaches its validity period and needs to be renewed or replaced. An expired certificate can cause users to receive a message indicating the connection is not secure by indicating that the website’s identity or security cannot be verified or trusted. Renewing the expired certificate can resolve the issue by extending its validity period and restoring its identity or security verification or trust.

Not enough upload bandwidth is what best explains the reason for slow connectivity to a web application that has been migrated to a cloud environment with a synchronous uplink speed of 100Mbps. Bandwidth is a measure of how much data can be transferred over a network or connection in a given time period. Upload bandwidth is a measure of how much data can be sent from one location to another over a network or connection in a given time period. Upload bandwidth can affect connectivity to a web application by determining how fast data can be uploaded from clients to servers or vice versa. Not enough upload bandwidth can cause slow connectivity to a web application by creating congestion or bottleneck in data transfer, which may result in delays or errors in web requests or responses.

Hardening is the best option to help the cloud provider secure the environment and limit consumers’ activity on its IaaS platform. Hardening is a process of reducing the attack surface and vulnerabilities of a system or device by applying security configurations, patches, updates, policies, rules, etc. Hardening can prevent consumers from installing unauthorized or unsupported software on their cloud servers, such as hypervisors.

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) is what would best meet the requirement of moving an environment from on premises to the cloud without vendor lock-in. Vendor lock-in is a situation where customers become dependent on or tied to a specific vendor or provider for their products or services, and face difficulties

 To troubleshoot the performance of a scheduled job that takes two hours to run after onboarding 10,000 new users to a cloud-based system, the administrator should evaluate the IaaS compute configurations, the capacity trend analysis reports, and the storage IOPS. These factors can affect the performance of a database job in an IaaS instance on a cloud provider. The IaaS compute configurations include the CPU, memory, and network resources assigned to the instance. The capacity trend analysis reports show the historical and projected usage and demand of the resources. The storage IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) measure the speed and performance of the disk storage. The administrator should check if these factors are sufficient, optimal, or need to be adjusted to improve the performance of the job.

SaaS (Software as a Service) is a cloud service model that provides fully managed applications to the end users. The users do not have to worry about installing, updating, or maintaining the software, as the cloud provider handles all these tasks. Examples of SaaS are Gmail, Office 365, Salesforce, etc.

Thin provisioning is the technique that ensures disk space is not allocated to the VM until it is needed. Thin provisioning is a storage allocation method that assigns disk space to a VM on demand, rather than in advance. Thin provisioning can improve storage utilization and efficiency by avoiding overprovisioning and wasting disk space. Thin provisioning can also allow for more flexibility and scalability of storage resources.

Option B is what minimally complies with the SLA (Service Level Agreement) requirements of allowing for no more than five hours of downtime annually for a new application that will be hosted by a public cloud provider. An SLA is a contract or agreement that defines the level of service or performance that a customer expects from a provider, such as availability, reliability, scalability, security, etc. An SLA can help to measure and monitor the quality and satisfaction of service or performance, as well as identify any penalties or rewards for meeting or failing to meet the SLA. Option B minimally complies with the SLA requirements by using services that have availability percentages that are equal to or higher than 99.95%, which translates to no more than five hours of downtime annually. Option B uses services such as:

• Compute: This is a service that provides computing resources such as servers, processors, memory, etc., to run applications or functions. Option B uses compute service with availability percentage of 99.95%, which means that it guarantees to be available for 99.95% of the time in a year, and allows for no more than five hours of downtime in a year.
• Storage: This is a service that provides storage resources such as disks, volumes, files, etc., to store data or information. Option B uses storage service with availability percentage of 99.99%, which means that it guarantees to be available for 99.99% of the time in a year, and allows for no more than one hour of downtime in a year.
• Database: This is a service that provides database resources such as tables, records, queries, etc., to store and retrieve data or information. Option B uses database service with availability percentage of 99.95%, which means that it guarantees to be available for 99.95% of the time in a year, and allows for no more than five hours of downtime in a year.

A service account is a type of user account that is created for a specific service or application to run on a server or system. Creating a service account on the server is the best authentication technique to use within the playbook to run tasks against the server on a set schedule, as it can provide secure and consistent access to the server without exposing or hard-coding any sensitive credentials within the playbook. Creating a service account can also help manage and monitor the tasks and activities performed by the service or application on the server. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 14, section 2.7

Core-based licensing is a type of licensing model that charges based on the number of processor cores in a system or server. Core-based licensing is often used by software vendors to align their pricing with the performance and capacity of modern hardware. Core-based licensing can also enable customers to optimize their licensing costs by choosing the appropriate hardware configuration for their needs. Upgrading the processors in a web application host can affect the core-based licensing of the application, as it may increase the number of cores that need to be licensed. This can result in an alert regarding the license being out of compliance if the license is not updated accordingly. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 20, section 4.2

An active-active site is a type of disaster recovery (DR) site that runs simultaneously with the primary site and handles part of the normal workload or traffic. An active-active site can help maintain maximum availability for a SaaS service, as it can provide load balancing, redundancy, and failover capabilities for the SaaS service in case of an outage or disruption at the primary site. An active-active site can also improve performance and scalability, as it can distribute the workload or traffic across multiple sites and handle increased demand or peak periods. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 10, section 1.5

A failback is a process of restoring or returning a system or service to its original state or location after a failure or disaster recovery event. Performing a failback is the first action that a cloud administrator should take after successfully completing a DR test and being ready to shut down its DR site and resume normal operations, as it can ensure that all data and configurations are synchronized and consistent between the primary site and the DR site before switching back to the primary site. Performing a failback can also help minimize downtime or disruption, as it can verify that all systems or services are functioning properly before resuming normal operations. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 10, section 1.5

https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/cdn/what-is-a-cdn/

"A content delivery network (CDN) refers to a geographically distributed group of servers which work together to provide fast delivery of Internet content."

API provider rate limiting is a restriction on the number of requests that can be made to a web service or application programming interface (API) within a certain time period. API provider rate limiting can cause a failure to access a public cloud API deployment, as it can reject or block any requests that exceed the limit. API provider rate limiting can be used by cloud providers to control the usage and traffic of their customers and prevent overloading or abuse of their resources. API provider rate limiting is the most likely cause for the developer being unable to access a public cloud API deployment that was working ten minutes prior. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 13, section 2.5

A storage live migration is a process of moving or transferring data or files from one storage system or device to another without interrupting or affecting the availability or performance of the VMs or applications that use them. Performing a storage live migration can help migrate the data from a SAN that is being decommissioned to a new array, as it can ensure that there is no downtime or disruption for the VMs or applications that rely on the data or files stored on the SAN. Performing a storage live migration can also help maintain consistency and integrity, as it can synchronize and verify the data or files between the source and destination storage systems or devices. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 10, section 1.5

Checking in and committing are actions that save and update the changes made to a file or code in a version control system or repository. Checking in and committing can help track and synchronize the changes made by different users or developers working on the same file or code. The deployment script changes made by the first administrator were not checked in and committed is the most likely reason for the issue of the application load balancer being missing from the new deployment after a second administrator made some changes and ran the script. If the first administrator did not check in and commit the changes made to add an application load balancer to the script, then those changes would not be reflected or available in the latest version of the script used by the second administrator. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 13, section 2.5

The network is the set of devices, connections, protocols, and configurations that enable communication and data transfer between different systems and applications. The network can affect the performance of storage throughput by influencing factors such as bandwidth, latency, jitter, packet loss, and congestion. Poor network performance can result in low storage throughput in both IOPS and MBps, as it can limit the amount and speed of data that can be sent or received by the storage devices. Verifying the network should be the next step for troubleshooting the issue of slow storage throughput on a few VMs in a private IaaS cloud, as it can help identify and resolve any network-related problems that may be causing the issue. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 17, section 3.4

A virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) is a type of network virtualization technology that creates logical networks or segments that span across multiple physical networks or locations. Moving the web and database servers onto the same VXLAN can help resolve the network throughput issues following a deployment, as it can reduce the network traffic between the database and the web servers by using a common virtual network identifier (VNI) and encapsulating the traffic within UDP packets. Moving the web and database servers onto the same VXLAN can also improve performance and security, as it can provide higher scalability, isolation, and encryption for the network traffic. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 15, section 2.8

Scalability is the ability of a system or service to handle increased workload or demand by adding or removing resources or capacity as needed. Scalability is relevant to capacity planning in a SaaS environment, as it can affect the performance, availability, and cost of the SaaS service. Scalability can help optimize the capacity planning process by ensuring that the SaaS service has enough resources or capacity to meet the current and future needs of the customers without wasting or underutilizing resources or capacity. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 12, section 2.2

RAID 50 is a type of RAID level that combines RAID 5 and RAID 0 to create a nested RAID configuration. RAID 50 consists of two or more RAID 5 arrays that are striped together using RAID 0. RAID 50 can provide redundancy, fault tolerance, and high performance for large data sets. RAID 50 can also maximize storage, as it has a higher usable capacity than other RAID levels with similar features, such as RAID 6 or RAID 10. The administrator should choose RAID 50 to configure a new server that will host files for users and replicate to an identical server, as it can meet the needs of redundancy and storage maximization. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 9, section 1.4

A service-level agreement (SLA) is a contract or document that defines the level of service and performance expected from a service provider or vendor. A recovery time objective (RTO) is a metric that specifies the maximum acceptable time for restoring a system or service after a disruption or outage. Both SLA and RTO can provide the data to measure business continuity, as they can indicate the availability, reliability, and recoverability of a system or service in case of a failure or disaster. SLA and RTO can also help evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the business continuity plan and solution. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 20, section 4.2

RAID 1 is a type of RAID level that creates an exact copy or mirror of data on two or more disks. RAID 1 can provide redundancy and fault tolerance, as it can survive the failure of one disk without losing any data. RAID 1 can also improve read performance, as it can access data from multiple disks simultaneously. The administrator should configure RAID 1 to set up mirroring on a storage array. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 9, section 1.4

Port 161 is the default port used by Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to communicate with network devices and collect information about their status, performance, configuration, and events. Opening port 161 on the monitoring server’s firewall will allow SNMP traffic to pass through and enable monitoring for a private cloud environment. If port 161 is closed or blocked, SNMP traffic will be denied or dropped, resulting in a failure to monitor the network devices. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 15, section 2.8

A virtual graphics processing unit (vGPU) is a type of hardware or software that enables a VM to use the physical GPU resources of the host or server for graphics-intensive tasks. Upgrading the vGPU is most likely to solve the issue of VDI performance being slow since the images were upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, as it can provide more graphics processing power and memory for the VMs. Upgrading the vGPU can also improve the user experience and productivity, as it can enhance the display quality and responsiveness of the VDI environment. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 11, section 1.6

Updating the gateway on the web server to use 72.135.10.1 is the best action to take to resolve the issue of the web server being unavailable after being deployed in a public IaaS provider and assigned the public IP address of 72.135.10.100. Updating the gateway can ensure that the web server can communicate with the Internet and other networks by using the correct router or device that connects the web server’s network to other networks. Updating the gateway can also improve performance and reliability, as it can avoid any routing errors or conflicts that may prevent the web server from responding to remote login requests. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 15, section 2.8

Setting custom notifications for exceeding budget thresholds is the best option to execute the task of monitoring the expense of the company’s cloud resources with minimal effort, as it can automate and simplify the process of tracking and alerting the cloud administrator about any overspending or wastage of cloud resources. Setting custom notifications can also help optimize the cost and performance of cloud resources, as it can enable timely and proactive actions to adjust or optimize the resource allocation or consumption based on the budget limits. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 13, section 2.5

Regression testing is a type of testing that ensures that new code or changes to existing code do not break or degrade the functionality of the software. Regression testing is often used in software development workflows to verify that new features or bug fixes do not introduce new errors or affect the performance of the software. Regression testing can help prevent negative impacts on existing automation activities by checking that the new code is compatible with the existing code and does not cause any unexpected failures or errors. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 19, section 4.1

Latency is the delay or time taken for data to travel from one point to another in a network or system. Latency can affect the performance of applications and processes that depend on fast and reliable data transfer. Synchronous replication is a method of data replication that ensures that data is written to two or more storage devices at the same time, providing high availability and consistency. However, synchronous replication can also introduce latency, as the write operation has to wait for the confirmation from all the replicated devices before completing. The new configuration of migrating some application VMs to synchronously replicated storage is most likely adding latency, which can lower the performance of the applications. References: [CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives], page 10, section 1.5

Long-term support (LTS) is a type of release cycle that provides extended support and maintenance for software products or operating systems. LTS releases typically have longer end-of-life dates than regular releases, as they receive security updates, bug fixes, and patches for several years after their initial release date. LTS releases can also offer higher stability, reliability, and compatibility than regular releases, as they undergo more testing and quality assurance processes before being released. LTS is the best OS build for a systems administrator to use when provisioning VMs in a cloud environment and being told to select an OS build with the furthest end-of-life date. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 11, section 1.6

Role-based access control (RBAC) is a type of access control model that assigns permissions and privileges to users based on their roles or functions within an organization or system. RBAC can help simplify and streamline the management and enforcement of access policies, as it can reduce the complexity and redundancy of assigning permissions to individual users or groups. RBAC can also help improve security and compliance, as it can limit or grant access based on the principle of least privilege and the separation of duties. RBAC is the best access control rule to change when the sales group is part of the finance group and the sales team members can access the financial application due to a single sign-on mechanism being implem

Regression testing is a type of software testing that verifies that existing features or functionalities of a system or application are not affected by any changes or updates made to it. Regression testing can help assess whether all the known bugs and fixes are applied and unwanted ports and services are disabled when reviewing a new application implementation document for a cloud deployment, as it can detect any errors or defects that may have been introduced or re-introduced after applying patches, updates, or configurations to the application. References: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 19, section 4.1